The Translogic team took some time to swing by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently to chat with Ann Devereaux, the deputy lead for entry, descent and landing for Curiosity, the Mars science lab. If anyone knows what it takes to to move a project like Curiosity from concept to touch down, it's her. Over the course of the quick segment on the rover program, host Bradley Hasemeyer learns about the extensive real-world testing that went into bringing the rover to life as well as the staggeri

Is the Acura Legend a bit too "Asian" for your late-80's tastes? Perhaps you're attracted to its 2.7-liter V6, but not the packaging surrounding it. Your love for Fawlty Towers, Manchester United and Winston Churchill push you towards an automobile that lets everyone know you prefer the Union Jack to the Stars and Stripes. Well, we've found your next car, and you can Buy It Now for a mere pence under four grand.

The soap opera that is unfolding in the United Kingdom regarding the death of the once-proud MG Rover automobile company continues unabated. Four former MG Rover executives who purchased the automaker from BMW back in May of 2000 for a £10 fee have responded to Lord Mandelson's decision to send the aging case to the Serious Fraud Office with a terse statement. Here's a snippet:

The final days of MG were disastrous and disastrously expensive. The British government finally has an accounting of what happened, but it only adds to both sides of the disaster: the report took four years and £16 million ($26 million U.S.) for CPA firm BDO Stoy Howard to compile.

The Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) has been blowing a lot of smoke, so to speak, over its ambitions to produce alternative fuel vehicles for several years now. Having partnered with Tongji University's engineering faculty in 2005, SAIC invested nearly $300 million in a new division dedicated towards developing alternative propulsion systems. Now the Chinese automaker is finally tipped to launch its first hybrid as early as next year.

There's a new MG TF on its way to replace the current TF, which is once again rolling out the doors at its Longbridge, UK ancestral home. The new TF will be available as a roadster, natch, and as a coupe, and based on the Roewe 550. AutoExpress has worked up some renderings based on insider information about the new rear-drive MG, and the car amounts to a smorgasbord of cues from a variety of unfortunately styled vehicles. There's a lot of X80 concept, a dash of the crosseyed Qvale Mangusta, and

Land Rovers have run Jaguar's rorty AJ V8 engine since Ford got tired of sourcing engines from BMW. CAR magazine has dug up information on some mules running around in Finland with a new 4997cc engine underhood. Their photographers also caught the vehicles while they hung out in a parking lot full of tantalizing 2 and 7 series Volvos. While the AJ is a great motor, it's well into its design life. Range Rover's new engine is being developed with Bosch, and sports direct fuel injection to boost ef

MG's former Longbridge, UK headquarters has been pretty quiet since production ceased in 2005. Newly-merged owners SAIC and Nanjing want the clatter of carbuilding to once again echo through the plant and plan to base their European and overseas operations there. The plant itself has the capability to build up to three different models; the challenge is deciding which of the former rival's products to build there. MG TF roadsters will likely lead the charge, with cars due at retail locations by

The twisted saga of MG's resurrection from the ashes at the hands of Chinese automakers has come full circle. Last year both SAIC Motor Corp. and Nanjing Automobile Corp. fought tooth and nail for the right to build MGs in England, and Nanjing, the smaller of the two automakers by far, won. Since then the Chinese automaker has been trying to begin production of a new MG roadster at the company's plant in Longbridge, England. SAIC, meanwhile, accepted the defeat and instead purchased some MG prod

Industry analysts widely agree that one of the principal factors preventing Chinese automakers from succeeding outside of China is the local industry's fragmentation, with over 100 automakers vying for their slice of the proverbial pie. However, a merger announced Wednesday between two major Chinese automakers, Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp (SAIC) and Nanjing Automotive Group, stands a stronger chance of succeeding in the international car market as a larger group.

We'd picked up rumblings a while back that India's Tata Motors was interested in placing a bid with Ford for its Jaguar and Land Rover properties. Tata's even gone so far as to set its advisors loose on the potential deal to investigate how solid the investment would be. The automaker wants to strengthen itself through expansion into other markets, rather than being tied solely to the whims of the Indian economy. Jaguar and Land Rover are worldwide prestige brands that would give Tata instant en

"You took a $95,000 vehicle off-road?" asked a fellow Autoblogger as we shared some of our latest exploits with media vehicles. His question made it sound like I'd done something impressive with the Range Rover Supercharged, but it wasn't much more than gingerly tiptoeing this big British beast into a field. My little romp was equivalent to testing the water in a wading pool, but I discovered that the Range Rover's ride, no hard-tail chopper on the street, is even better off road.

Instead of beating each other's brains out and assuring that nobody wins, SAIC and Nanjing have decided to stand close to each other on the playground. While they may still avoid eye contact and kick pebbles instead of developing a friendship, they will be carrying out what they're terming a "comprehensive collaboration." Design, production and sales efforts will be pooled in an effort to make China's automakers competitive with outsiders like General Motors and Volkswagen, who currently dominat